Basketball has long been a recreational game from the time of its casual invention by Dr. Naismith. Since that time, basketball has steadily become refined to a competitive game using standardized equipment of benefit only to the most skillful players, along with rules which are best followed by those players who are in the best physical condition.
As a result, in recent times, public gymnasiums and playgrounds have been experiencing a lack of participation in basketball as a recreational sport because of the skill needed to compete in the game, primarily because the ball and the goal apparatus have evolved to standard equipment commensurate with the playing ability of only the most skillful players. The most skillful players comprise only a small percentage of the potential players, that is, only a small percentage of the people who would otherwise engage in the game for recreation.
As today's fixed equipment is constructed, both interiorly as in a school gymnasium, or exteriorly as on a playground, the usual standard size goal members are employed, rigidly in place, regardless of whether the players are to be teams of skilled athletes competing, or a group assembled informally just for the exercise and entertainment provided by the sport.
I have found numerous modified versions of the basketball goal equipment in the prior art. However, it appears that the greatest interest has been in the design of separate stands for basketball hoops and the design of modified versions of the game itself, rather than interest in adapting a goal member to accomodate players of various abilities.
The prior art that I have found includes the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. D-235,897 to Breneman PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,522,957 to Kennedy PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,473,908 to Rubin PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,067 to Rubin PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,838,308 to Polite PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,707 to Lemelson PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,382 to Clark PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,044 to Welson et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,808 to Bauer PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,058 to Hilbert et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,764 to Burke